Fukuoka City to launch integrated startup support hub to create future unicorns

Fukuoka City Government and three companies, namely Fukuoka Jisho, Sakura Internet and Apamanshop Holdings (TSE:8889) announced on Monday that they will establish a startup support facility in the public / private cooperative style named Fukuoka Growth Next on 12th April at the site formerly occupied by Daimyo elementary school in Fukuoka. Coinciding with the announcement, they opened applications for startups hoping to move in.

The establishment of Fukuoka Growth Next aims, in short, to create future unicorns from Fukuoka. To promote “interactions” between startups and to increase public awareness of startups, co-working space, event space, cafe, standing bar and DIY studio will be set up at the facility.

The function of the startup support base Startup Cafe in Tenjin, Fukuoka City will be transferred to Fukuoka Growth Next. It supports initiation or company registration, is equipped with the designer training space Fukuoka Design Hub and an engineer training space called Engineer Lab Fukuoka. Moreover, a dozen venture capital firms will jointly provide mentoring and several partner companies provide server or cloud environment free of charge.

This project was based on a plan proposed by Fukuoka Jisho, Sakura Internet and Apamanshop Holdings as business associates and was adopted at the behest of Fukuoka City Government. It allows startups, prospective entrepreneurs, second founders and existing companies / support companies to cooperate with startups to apply for entry into the facility and applications are being accepted on the official website until 10th March.

Translated by Taijiro TakedaEdited by “Tex” Pomeroy

Image of entrance part of Fukuoka Growth NextImage credit: Fukuoka City

Masaru started his career as a programmer/engineer, and previously co-founded several system integration companies and consulting firms. He’s been traveling around Silicon Valley and Asia exploring the IT industry, and he also curates event updates for the Tokyo edition of Startup Digest.